What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Now that the paint has cured on the frame, I spent most of Saturday coating the inside and outside with Fluid Film (went through five cans!) and also replaced the front calipers.

Then, on Sunday, I spent six hours going over the paint with a clay bar followed up with Collinite Insulator Wax. I also wet-sanded the yellow out of the headlights and clearcoated them. With 216k miles the truck really could use a good repaint, but the original paint can still hold a shine.

The clay bar and towels kept turning red, lol. I guess there is no clearcoat? It reminds me of my red 1988 Cougar XR-7, which had no clearcoat and would turn even a chamois red just from oxidized paint transfer.

 

Made and installed new brackets so I could push my 20" hidden light bar out some. Had to do it so I could fit some 4 note horns behind it. More on that later this week.

Old

Doing some Tig welding on the new ones

Installed

Nice and roomy

 

received an eMail approval for some custom plates
it's been over 1/4 century since I last had custom plates on a vehicle of mine



Thank You
Thank you for your online submission for the plate 97 TACO
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has approved your plate.
A letter with information regarding when your plate will be available at your County Treasurer's office will be mailed to you by the DMV.

Confirmation Number: 39371282
Plate Type: NE 150 Sesquicentennial Plate
Message: 97 TACO
Payment Type: Credit Card
Nebraska.gov Total Amount Paid: $ 73.00

 

Started on a "right of passage" for any 3.4L owner: valve cover gaskets, half moons, cam shaft seals,... It was dripping enough oil onto the passenger side exhaust manifold that it smoked pretty strong every time it was started. Haven't driven this truck much since getting it. Still working through maintenance upgrades.
Man, can this be a 255,000 engine? Look how clean it is inside and check out those plugs.

 

Shit where ya been?

 

Installed a new transmission seal this morning.

Here's a picture after the new seal installation.



Old seal in the transmission with the new seal.



I had to use my well worn and trusty old Autocraft seal puller for this job. The transmission seal uses a metal housing that took a stronger tool than the Lisle seal puller that I used for can and crankshaft seals.



The multi-purpose seal installation tool from Lowes worked great. It perfectly mates up with the metal rim on a transmission seal.



I used some red grease to lubricate the seal and surface before installation. I put the seal in the freezer for 30 minutes so it would contract before installation.

 

Cleaned up the throttle body and IACV this afternoon. Also, installed a new IACV gasket. I was surprised at the mineral deposits I saw in the IACV from the previous owner. I think they must have lived in an area with a lot of iron in the water and didn't use distilled water. I cringed a bit when I saw a water-cooled IACV. I've read about (not Toyota) water-cooled IACV leaking water into the stepper motor and causing a short that blows the ECU. I think this one will be ok though.



The butterfly is clean and tight - so I stopped there. I didn't want to go crazy with the butterfly contact point and create a gap that would lead to an uncontrollable fast idle. A shadow makes it hard to see.

 

Looks great. Can you determine the type of oil used by the previous owner?

 

Especially those ruts on I-90 westbound near freya were the worst before tack weld lol

 

Over the past few days, I've had a project going in the background to clean, prime, and paint the crossover and Y pipe using the VHT header paint process. I had to remove all rust from the Y-Pipe and ends of the crossover by soaking them in muriatic acid. That was a slow process. Then I had to quickly wash and steel wool the pipes in acetone before priming with VHT header paint primer. After the primer dried, I applied two coats of VHT ceramic. I've been baking and following the recommended heat treatment cycles. It takes time to put the parts through the proper curing process. I've been using this for years on various exhaust parts. Avoiding rust sure makes any work you do with those parts easy for years to come.

I hang the parts by wire to prime and paint before baking.





Here's a video about using VHT ceramic paint.

https://youtu.be/5X4U7qlw8CA

 

So last night I added 1" spacers, didn't need them I just wanted my tires to stick out a little past the fenders, they do and it looks great but now I have to cut the inside fender... Do spacers really even help with rubbing?

 

I like where you went with the bar! haha i have two 6" bars down there hidden, but I didnt want to relocate my license plate so I went with the much smaller bars

 

I bought the truck from a salvage yard. It had just been wrecked, but title was clean due to no insurance claim. Yard owner told me the truck's owner had it towed straight from the crash to his salvage yard. Guess they figured not worth trying to fix W/O insurance. I sent a letter to the PO asking about maintenance and got no reply.

Only clue I have is the oil had just been changed based on a "Service Pro" oil change window sticker giving the date/mileage for the next oil change due.

 

Thoughts on this battery? Mine is getting old and should be replaced soon, dies decently quickly...

 

Like a glove. I like that homemade seal seater. I'mma have to keep that in mind next time I'm in need

 

What size tires? I have a little bit of rub when I cut at a specific angle with 1" spacers in the front. I've got new springs for a 1.5" lift that I think will cure mine.

 

Depends on what you're rubbing, brake calipers or frame yeah they do. But it mainly depends on your rims, the backspacing and offset will determine if you're going to rub the fender

Also depends on your tires

 

Ah ok, makes sense... Its only a very small portion that rubs so tonight after work I am definitely cutting away at it

 

265/75r16
I have no rub with the 1" lift, until spacer and its such a small amount of area on the fenders that rubs so i am just cutting it after work